The teachings of prior related U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,762,483 and 4,830,864 issued to the inventor of the present invention are incorporated herein by reference. As will be seen from later description, the present invention represents an improvement upon the teachings of the inventions of the prior patents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,483 is for an Apparatus for Packaging and Dispensing Ice Cream and The Like. Patent '483 describes a machine which measures and cuts off a portion of a frozen food product which is packaged in a coiled tubular casing. The mechanism for cutting off the product is a thin blade which is linearly actuated much in the fashion of a guillotine. The separated portion of a frozen food or similar product, is then transferred by a scoop device to a receiving container.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,864 is for a Method for Packaging and Dispensing Ice Cream and the Like. The '864 patent is a division of the '843 patent and deals with the preparatory process of packaging the frozen food product into the casing to be subsequently handled by the dispensing machine of the '483 patent.
The idea of packaging and dispensing products from a disposable casing is a practical one for commercial establishments and for automated, consumer-operated equipment as well. A difficulty encountered with the mechanism of the '483 patent is that the mechanical components, particularly the cutting device and the scoop moving components, come into direct contact with the food product. This product contact means there is a significant cleaning requirement. Since the product being cut and served is intended to be a food product, a sanitation concern exists. Cleaning is required periodically to keep the parts in condition to function, and, if a change in product were to occur, to prevent unwanted product mixing.
The prior patents noted are directed primarily to handling and dispensing ice cream and the like. The present invention is likewise applicable to ice cream, and additionally is recognized as possibly being useful in dispensing controlled portions of other food and non-food products.
The method of constricting a product packed within a casing has been done before, particularly with sausages. Such a method and apparatus is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,049,108 to Georg Staundenrausch. In the '108 patent, a strand of sausage filled casing is rotated about its axis as it is constricted by a pair of rotating constrictor elements. As will be seen, the apparatus and method of the present invention does not rotate the strand and adds the steps of forming the cased product, slitting the casing and winding the slit casing while dispensing the ice cream product. In addition, it has been observed that sausage is typically packed in edible casing which tends to adhere to the meat product.
It is recognized according to the present invention that a product such as ice cream or the like has certain mechanical characteristics, significantly that of being malleable. Thus, ice cream, for example, can be deformed with a moderate amount of pressure. When deformation results in a product such as ice cream being compressed to a relatively thin cross section, the compressed section will have low tensile strength and will readily and spontaneously separate a portion defined by two spaced apart compressed sections. With these properties, more or less, a commodity or product such as ice cream when encased in a compressible tubular casing will function according to the processes of the invention disclosed.
Therefore, it is an objective of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus capable of dispensing measured portions of a product such as ice cream packaged in a disposable casing.
It is an additional objective of the present invention to provide a dispensing apparatus for dispensing ice cream or the like, the operative parts of which do not come into intimate contact with the product.
It is a further objective of the present invention to provide a dispensing method and apparatus in which the supply of product such as ice cream or the like, can be quickly and efficiently replaced.
The foregoing and other objectives will become apparent from the disclosure that follows.